Technicalities

Peter Garrison

Tuesday, May 26, 2009 at 08:00 AM ET

Verified

Key Takeaways:

The author discovered a 1930s aviation scrapbook kept by Walter Kielbowicz, a man he never knew, which vividly revealed Walter's teenage fascination with airplanes, record-breaking pilots, and the cutting-edge, often dangerous, technology of early flight.
The scrapbook offers a unique historical window into 1930s aviation, showcasing everything from daring speed contests and long-distance flights to tragic crashes and surprisingly prescient visions of future cockpit technology.
The author identifies with Walter's youthful passion, having kept a similar scrapbook, but a poignant detail reveals Walter never expressed interest in aviation as an adult, highlighting the divergence between youthful dreams and later life.

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I didn’t know Walter Kielbowicz.

I know a few things about him, for which I have the internet to thank. He was born in 1917 in Scranton, Pennsylvania. He was an MP during World War II. He was married for 60 years and fathered two daughters. He worked as a lab technician in Holyoke, Massachusetts, and retired in 1979. He liked to fish, and was a woodworker in his spare time. Walter died in 2007 in Holyoke, Massachusetts, a couple of months before his 90th birthday.